Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘Nom Nom Apocalypse’

Review Fix chats with “Nom Nom Apocalypse” designer Joe Sacco, who lets us know what makes his game unique and stand out of the crowd.

Review Fix: How was this game born?

Josh Sacco: I was inspired by the thought of creating something with the old school monster movies theme. I really love aesthetics and pop culture around them and I’ve always been obsessed with Halloween and monsters. At the same time, I was playing Overcooked with my friends, and heavily playing The Binding of Isaac as well. The idea formed to make this monster food twin-stick shooter.

Review Fix: What was your role in the game?

Sacco: I’m a solo developer on this project, wearing quite a few hats—which was a big undertaking!

Review Fix: How did you get involved in the industry?

Sacco: About eight years ago, I started as a 3D prop artist, getting my first break in the industry. Back then, it was much harder to get into the industry and the indie scene was just beginning to form. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to land my first job in games. As a kid, I was always making my own games and characters, so it was a dream come true. 

Review Fix: What was development like?

Sacco: This was my first time taking what I had learned throughout and creating something in structured production instead of a hobby-like environment. Time flew pretty quickly and doing it solo meant I had to be somewhat agile with my choices and development. I knew from experience this would be one of the challenges, as it’s mostly an organic process. A peer once told me, ‘Every game is different and you won’t figure out how it truly works until your towards the end,’ and I feel like that statement is true.  

Review Fix: What makes this game special?

Sacco: I definitely think blowing up a horde of cheeseburger creatures with a mustard shotgun to rack up a score combo is a colourful twist for an arcade-ish twin-stick shooter. While the greasy monsters can be gruesome, it doesn’t take itself too seriously.     

Review Fix: What games influenced this one the most?

Sacco: The Binding of Isaac, an inspiration for many, was such a huge influence on me. I love the characters and it just oozes personality. Through development, my influences ended up being a cherry-pick of things I liked in twin-shooters that would eventually form the heart of the game. I liked the idea of having a score and upgrades you select at the start of a level, like the old-school arcade games, and I also liked the idea of creating the levels in a non-linear experience. 

I knew from the start that with players taking out a horde of monsters, it wasn’t going to be an experience with bullets filling the screen. This allowed me to be more experimental with what enemies could do and what the players would have to manage and dodge.   

Review Fix: What were the major lessons learned?

Sacco: I think when you’re working solo it’s easy to get caught in a bubble. Next time around, I would opt for a more substantial amount of opinions and feedback earlier in development. 

Review Fix: Do you think preserving older gameplay mechanics in new games is important?

Sacco: Looking at this from the development side of things, I feel old school games can remind us that all a game needs is a simple core to be fun. You can sometimes get caught up in how much content you need to create. I grew up playing games on a Commodore 64, PC and early consoles, so I do have a lot of fond memories playing older games.        

Review Fix: What’s your favorite memory as a gamer?

Sacco: My favourite memories are from when I was young. My friends and I would hang out at each other’s houses playing Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and Halo 1 for a ridiculously long time. It would get to early morning, we would go to sleep, and we’d do it all again the next day. I distinctly remember trying to use Kirby in Super Smash Bros. to suck one of my friends up and jump off the edge but they would escape and I would be the one falling to my peril. Good times.

Review Fix: How do you want this game to be remembered?

Sacco: I would want Nom Nom Apocalypse to be remembered as a lighthearted arcade twin-stick shooter with awesome monsters to slug.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Sacco: I’ve got a couple ideas for games that I’m looking to explore with a focus on characters.